Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-08-24
STANTON EXTRACT WORKS.
A LARGE ENTERPRISE APPROACHING COMPILE
TION-THE CITY AND 4 WIDE EXTENT OF
COUNTRY BENEFITED.

I TIoN-THE CITY AND WIDE EXTENT OF
| COUNTRY BENEFITED.
When the economy of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Railway Company required the removal
| of the Workshops from Staunton, and the
consequent idleness of the large section Of
| round house and seven acres of land attached
where there had been active mechanical work
progressing regularly, and the loss in popula-
ton and trade interests by the removal OF the
employees SO engaged, the desire on the part
of the people here which sought to restore the
locality to active industrial scenes was natural
and will after long delay be realized
HOW IT COMMENCED.
A year or more ago Messrs. J. F. West and P.
B. Sublett obtained sufficiency of space on
the premises to commence new business here
buying. grinding and shipping tanbark
which was bought by Northern Extract
Works. The more Mr.. West was engaged and
examined into this new business, the more
earnestly he sought to see full development
by the erection of works here for making the
extract as an elegant location in the midst of
a country Astounding in the raw material was
to be found in Staunton.
THE RIGHT MAN FOUND.
In his search for the proper man to establish
an enterprise of the kind. Mr.. West sought out
Mr. o. K. Lapham, of Chicago, who conducts
in that city an extensive tannery. Mr.. Lap
ham examined the location. and made sur
vey of the fields of supply in the sections suf-
ficiently adjacent to Staunton, on the lines of
the two railroads centering here, and along the
Shenandoah Valley railroad, and concluded
negotiations for the property of the railroad
NH nth rofarr to
THE WORK WAS COMMENCED.
The Old Round-house as the section of one is
called, which was in the service of the railroad,
is solid brick structure with slate roof, the
outer curve facing the railroad, three hundred
yards west of the passenger depot. 1t covers
about half an acre of land, lying on the south
side of the railroad, and around it are seven
acres of open land, with here and there a
small house, all the property of the railroad.
and now turned over to the uses of the Staun-
ton Extract Works. The land is in a semi
circle, the nearly straight chord Of which is on
the railroad, and along the outer and curved
line flows the South fork of Lewis Creek. A
going up.
THE BUILDING WITH ITS NEW OUTFITS.
The interior of the Round. house, once the
home of railroad engines when its walls re-
sounded to the strong and well-laid blows, as |
the hammers in the hands of the sons of Vul- |
can forged upon the anvils, presents a changed !
scene now. It is already well filled up with |
the complex machinery that is to drive with |
energy new industry. Steam, and steam !
applied to machinery as propellinga power |
are to be large factors in extracting from the
barks of certain growths their tannic qualities,
and reducing them to their highest values for
purposes and commercial de-
mand.
At the northern end of the building. on eIe-
waited foundations Of cemented brick. are four
e yis9l fl ye sGGsss mower boilers. To these
will be added three more, eacls 1 one hundred
horsepower boilers, which will make the
team generated equal to six-hundred-hoerse-l
power. And now we shall see what it is pro-
posed to do with it.
South of the boilers, on elevated platforms of
massive timber, are lines of tanks or huge
ubs about the size of railroad tanks. Forty
re up. and forty more are to occupy similar
Beyond the tanks, in the southern end, will
'e the grinding mills. All along the lines of
anks. from the place of grinding the bark to
he locality where the steam is generated are
quare box tubes They occupy many different
positions, some are perpendicular, some hori- ,
ontal and others at inclines. In these tubes ,
will be endless chains with their thousands Of
title buckets taking up the bark as it comes
rom the grinding mills and conveying it to ,
he tanks and elsewhere, as 1t is required, and
inally carrying it from the tanks after 1t has 6
delivered up its desired properties to the fuel
eceiver, and there becomes fuel and is con-
umed in the fires under the boilers, going to ,
ashes before it leaves the building It would ,
;eem from this that the bark certainly con-
tributes its full share to the purpose which
science finds it adapted to In the heating pro-
less necessary to extract its virtues.
THE OUTFIT BECOMES A MORE DIFFICULT !
PROBLEM TO WORE OFT. II
~ the boilers are two water-tanks, or cisterns.
n which cupola in the roof is necessary to
give it room. is another reservoir for water
Midway, on heavy framing timbers, is large
,lobe-like metal-fxture. built in sections OF
broad joints, bound by hundreds of strong
,olts at each layer as the sections rise to COM
olete the symmetrical proportions OF this re-
'eiver and distiller of the liquid, for which all
he other departments appear to be subordi-
late. Iron pipes, leading to and from, with
intricate connections, are in readiness to take
heir assigned relations to the apparently COM
dictated agency to the whole structure cena !
cred at that point. Near by are two engines
@ furnish the forcing power which takes in all
he work of the establishme nt--whethe it be
'ropelling every department Of the vast sys-
ems of machinery Or in the protection from ..
Ire all over the building and throughout the
7ard where the bark is piled-in fact render
ng the whole establishment secure against
destruction from fire.
THE WATER SUPPLY.
1t will be observed that water is q leading
Igent in conducting this enterprise. From the
along the Middlebrook road
springs gather in the Valley and
crm Lewis Creek which in its l,ow' forms the
lircular boundary 81 the grounds acquired by
,hese works. By natural draft from the up
GER boundary it Is piped to the building and
20 make depositoriesat various points through
out the premises. The stream is never-failing
and before accomplishing other important
functions, aided by its adjunct above Augusta
street, such as the chic waterway Of the city,
and af1ording propelling power to the large
flour manufacturing 1-lill of Messrs. Witt &
LIo1f offro ft,as